Madrid, November 11th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
A huge Catholic demonstration against recent government legislation on issues such as abortion, homosexual marriage, R.E. and divorce is being planned. Among others, the diocese of Madrid, Toledo and Granada, as well as the Archbishoprics of Oviedo and Valencia are mobilising to support the demo

The Spanish Catholic Church is organising the demonstration through local movements and associations which it hopes will turn out in force in December. In principle, the move contradicts a statement by the Episcopal spokesman, Juan Antonio Martínez, who had previously said that the Bishops were not going to organise or participate in any demonstration against the government. However, such is the feeling at diocesan level that they seem to have had second thoughts, even though they can hide behind the fact that it is not strictly the Bishops who are putting the demonstration together.

In a letter sent to priests and Catholic R.E. teachers by the Alcalá diocese, it announced that "a large demonstation will be held in Madrid in December, organised by all the diocese, movements, associations and Christian (sic) groups, around the three basic subjects of family, life and education on which this government is legislating in a way that brooks little discussion. Whether or not the bishops themselves turn out, and two at least have expressed their willingness to walk behind the placards, this is the first time a diocesan organisation has called on its members directly to protest publicly.

Various diocese are also collecting signatures in favour of confessional R.E. in schools. Hundreds of Catholic teachers have written to the government to complain at what they see as discrimination against Catholic morals, while Martínez adds that "the (Catholic) Church merely defends the rights of parents who want their children to study R.E. rather than follow the reforms introduced by the Ministry of Education." The battle-lines are drawn; where will evangelicals stand ­ or march ­ on this?

Madrid, November 15th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
In June, the Family Action Trust published a report on the state of the family and the changes it has undergone over the last 20 years

The first notable piece of information is that only 0.7% of the Spanish population do not form part of a family. Yet despite this, there are serious failings in government policy towards the family. The average age at which couples get married has gone up by 4.2 years in the last 25 years, while the average number of children has fallen from 2.8 to 1.25. The number of marriages has remained pretty constant since 1993, at around 5 marriages per 100,000 inhabitants. It is still 'fashionable' to get married, despite rising house prices and the uncertainty of the job market. Much more worrying is the fact that Spain still has one of the lowest birth rates in the world.

Although the main source of income in 46% of families is work outside the home, 36% receive theirs from pensions. The principal breadwinner is the man (in 80% of cases), at work (in 57% of cases) and aged between 36 and 55 (in over 40% of homes). Yet it is noteworthy that more than 4 million homes depend upon a retired person for their main source of income. Women who do not work outside the home do not have noticeably more children, though they do have them younger.

Part-time work and working from home are two areas which are little developed in Spain and require supportive legislation to enable them to spread. There is also little flexi-time available, which is why many women opt to give up work while their children are small, especially during the pre-school phase. Women who have full-time jobs still do most of the housework, yet it is men who take more time off sick.

Two-parent families are generally happier than single-parent ones, and both men and women, though particularly men, being more satisfied with family life than life in general. Separated people are less happy with their family lot than divorcees and widows/widowers. The happiest are married women (or those living with someone) aged between 25 and 55.

Barcelona, November 17th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
The website magazine associated with A.C.Press, 'ProtestanteDigital', began in September 2003 with around 8,000 hits. Now, a year later, it receives around 30,000 hits a month (29,541 in October, to be exact)

This is a considerable number given that the site only offers news and comment. The magazine deals mainly with religious news, especially about evangelical and Protestant Christianity. There are articles analysing the news, sections covering humour and art, and of course a section in English. The magazine continues to outdo the expectations of its editorial team and those of its overseer, the Spanish Evangelical Alliance.

Indeed, at the most recent meeting of the Alliance's Executive Committee, it was agreed that the organisation should continue to support and promote the media branch of the Alliance which, together with 'Imagine' (see last week's bulletin), is causing much interest among European Evangelical Alliances. By way of comparison, it is noteworthy that 'ProtestanteDigital' receives more hits than the website of the German Evangelical Alliance, despite that movement having several million members.

The Internet magazine forms part of RedIMIR, a media umbrella which covers A.C.Press, ProtestanteDigital and the audio broadcasts at e-mision.net in both Spanish and English. Although RedIMIR operates under the auspices of the Evangelical Alliance, an increasing number of evangelical organisations and denominations are joining the project as Associate Members. The latest member is 'Visual 777', a multi-media production outfit linked to the Remar drug rehabilitation group and the 'Body of Christ' group of churches. It runs a TV channel, a radio station and produces a monthly newspaper.

Barcelona, November 18th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
The Spanish Evangelical Alliance has launched a campaign to collect signatures on a petition asking for a Christmas service to be broadcast from an evangelical church on state television

The General Secretary, Jaume Llenas, has written to all the evangelical churches in Spain asking them to support the aim of the 'Good News' programme to air a Christmas service. It reminds the churches that the request is not new, as 'Good News' ­ which now broadcasts a 10-minute weekly programme ­ has been asking for one for years.

It now appears that television chiefs are not averse to the proposal which is why the campaign has been launched. Llenas says: "It's a good moment for evangelicals to show our appreciation, as well as our support for equal treatment by the public service broadcaster." The European Evangelical Alliance and the Federation of European Broadcasters have added their support for the request.

Although the immediate goal is a Christmas service, the campaign looks much further ahead, calling for regular radio programmes and special broadcasts at times like Easter. The Evangelical Alliance is launching its campaign without having any direct involvement in the project, as the programme is run under the auspices of the FEREDE, and is merely doing so from a supportive point of view.

Madrid, November 18th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
A writer from Valencia, Vicente Muñoz, has won a literary prize in the children's book category, for his work entitled 'The Ark and I', in which he offers his personal vision of the famous biblical event involving Noah

The book, illustrated by Elena Odriozola, is a novel narrated in the first person by Japheth, Noah's youngest son, when aged 9. The story is told with the frankness of a child who could be the hero of the best adventure story. Muñoz admits that the book contains a lot of himself and takes him back to his own infancy and his love of animals. "The story occurred to me when I realised that the Bible is a source of magnificent stories, many of which have been used very little."

The author said that above all he wanted to tell the story from a child's point of view, "the most interesting one." He throws in elements of suspense and humour. "I believe this book, which casts God in a very good light, strengthens the Bible episode and at the same time offers a variation, the product of my imagination, on the story."

Madrid, November 18th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
The Catholic Church has received more than 2,000 million euros from the state since it was given, in 1987, a box on tax returns for people who wished to give it the percentage destined for charitable purposes

Taxpayers may allocate 0.52% of their tax either to the Catholic Church or to unspecified charities of which the Treasury has a list. However, about a quarter of the money given over the last 17 years comes from a top-up, the so-called 'budgetary complement'. Even though the Catholic Church agreed back in 1979 to become self-financing, the tax break has never yet raised enough to reach the figure budgeted by the Church. Therefore, every year the state has had to cough up the shortfall.

According to Alvaro Cuesta, Secretary of Public Policy for the governing Socialist Party, the Catholic Church has received more than 240 million euros in this way in the last 10 years, money he says the state "has let the Church off paying." The government intends to eliminate this complement, which in 2003 amounted to 32.8 million euros, almost 25% of the total received by the Catholic Church. However, next year sees the end of the extension granted to the current system. The removal of the complement can only realistically be achieved if the percentage of the tax break is raised to 0.7%, thus making the Catholic Church 'self-financing'. The bishops are unsurprisingly delighted at the prospect, though there calculations set the rate nearer 0.8%. Indirectly, the state continues to pay in the sense that it retains less tax.

Cuesta's other proposal to adopt the German system of religious financing has not been welcomed either by the Catholic Church, nor the other three recognised religious groups (Evangelicals, Jews and Muslims). This system includes the charging of a 'religious tax' whose percentage oscillates between 8% and 11% according to the region, and is compulsory for everybody who has been baptised into either the Protestant or Catholic Church. Members of minority religious groups are exempt from the tax, while those who were baptised but have since abandoned the church must sign an apostasy declaration. The government collects and distributes the money to the two main churches, keeping around 2% of the total for the trouble of doing so.

Madrid, November 17th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
Catholic members of the ruling Socialist Party have called on the government to be moderate in its dealings with their Church, while at the same time supporting the principle of a non-confessional state. They believe the government should equally avoid anti-religious dogmatism

"The defence of pluralism and democracy cannot be based on indifference or even hostility towards religion. Religion rather can be a valuable complement to democracy, and democracy is the best framework for the exercise of religion." At least, so said José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, back in 2001, and now Prime Minister. The aim was to heal the breach between socialism and the Catholic Church. A group was set up in the Basque country in 1994 in order to build bridges between the Socialist Party and "the Christian world", though for 'Christian' read 'Catholic', as no Protestant is even invited. The promoter of the initiative, Carlos García, said "it is much easier to be a Christian and a conservative, because neo-liberalism has little in common with the Gospel." He admits that they are a relatively small group within the party, and that they lack political clout. They tend to concentrate on policies such as those on equality, peace, the integration of immigrants, and the pardoning of Third World debt.

 A conference is due to be held later this month, right at a time when relations are poor. García believes though that government policy is in broad agreement with the social doctrine of the Catholic Church and with " the more prophetic messages of John Paul II." Quite how he comes to the conclusion that Socialist policies have "advanced the horizon of evangelical values" when they are pushing ahead on easier divorce, abortion and gay marriage, to name but three, is hard to fathom.

It does admit that in these and other issues, including R.E., embryonic experimentation and euthanasia (to name three more policy areas), the government has moved too quickly and upset the Bishops. The group calls for a slower pace and more dialogue.

Madrid, November 18th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
A recent meeting of the Federation of Spanish Evangelical Organisations (FEREDE), which represents the vast majority of Spanish Protestants, included an explanation by Mercedes Rico, Head of Religious Affairs in the Spanish government, of the plan to set up a Trust to finance cultural, educational and social projects run by the three non-Catholic recognised religions, including evangelicals

Rico said the Trust fulfils the state's constitutional duty to work with religious minorities within a pluralist, lay state. The Trust will operate under the chairmanship of the Justice Minister. Twelve representatives of different ministerial departments will sit on the Committee, along with nine elected members who will be appointed for their experience and contribution towards the aims of the Trust.

The money given to the Trust by the state will be spent on activities not directly related to worship, such as cultural integration, the study of religions, family support projects, women and young people and work with non-governmental groups linked to the different confessions. This is the first time a Spanish government has contemplated financing religious minorities. The FEREDE said most evangelical denominations were happy at the way the process with the Trust was moving forward.

Melilla, November 18th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
The Head of Religious Affairs in the Madrid government, Mercedes Rico, has just spent 2 days in one of Spain's remaining colonial outposts, Melilla on the north African coast, to see how Islam is taught in state schools there

As has become typical in western Europe, Rico said her government was going to work hard to avoid 'islamophobia' in the wake of the Madrid bombings, perpetrated by Islamic terrorists. "We cannot allow the action of a few evil people to sully a whole community who are in Spain and are working to improve their lives." She sought to allay fears expressed to her by the Muslim community in Melilla.

As for the full implementation of the 1992 Accords with Muslims, Jews and Protestants, she said they were working on it, but that 12 years' neglect could not be put right in 6 months. "We are working hard to develop the accords normally, to guarantee the rights which are enshrined there but until now have not been put into practice." In a two-day visit to Melilla, she met Catholic, Muslim and Jewish leaders. Rico went to see how soldiers of different faiths get on at the Flomesta Barracks, met the city's Mayor, Juan José Imbroda, and broke the Ramadan fast with Muslims at the central mosque. The Head of Religious Affairs ended her visit to this Spanish enclave in North Africa by attending a school which teaches both Islam and Roman Catholicism, then visiting the main synagogue and a mosque in the city.